Observations placeholder
Mircea Eliade - Pygmy Moon festival
Identifier
011350
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Mircea Eliade – Patterns in Comparative religion
The Pygmies of Africa [have a ] feast of the new moon which takes place a little before the rainy season. The moon, which they call Pe, is held to be the 'principle of generation, and the mother of fecundity'. The feast of the new moon is reserved exclusively for the women, just as the feast of the sun is celebrated exclusively by the men. Because the moon is both 'mother and refuge of ghosts' the women honour it by smearing themselves with clay and vegetable juices, thus becoming white like ghosts and moonlight